The UnlearnT Podcast
The UnlearnT Podcast is designed to help you gain the courage to change your mind about things you never thought you would change your mind about. Our hope is that you will begin to move towards a life of freedom after hearing stories from individuals who have chosen to unlearn some things in their lives.
The UnlearnT Podcast
Second Act: Pressing Into Purpose and How to Navigate Changing Seasons
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We map the journey from porch rules and legacy expectations to a crash that rewrote the plan, then to a comeback that finished the old vision and opened a bigger calling. Faith reframes pressure as privilege, and mentorship becomes a lifelong vow to build others.
• growing up third in a namesake line and guarded by a praying grandmother
• crossing the tracks into private school and learning new literacies
• leadership formed in the classroom before dominance on the field
• national recruiting and the weight of communal expectation
• the hydroplane crash, neck fusion, and God’s waiting room
• TDC method for transition: time, distance, covering
• fatherhood, coaching, and a purpose-built comeback at Boston College
• choosing family over fantasy during COVID-era setbacks
• recommitting to Christ and stepping into scholarship and teaching
• mentorship as a lifelong commitment, not a feel-good project
Please like, share, subscribe. We want you to be a part of the family. We want you to continue to learn more as we continue to unlearn. We want you to join us on this journey of unlearning.
What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Unlimited Podcast. This is the second act, the place where we reflect on where we've been so we can redefine our now to rewrite our next. This is your girl Jaquita, and I am joined today by my brother, my friend, my PhD comrade. Y'all, he has a story for you guys today. He is an amazing scholar. He's a mentor to many. He is a father. He is a he is a husband. He is a son, and he is just an all-around outstanding person to know. And I am excited and a motivational speaker in his own right. Okay, let me put it out there. He's gonna tell you about a lot of the other amazing things he does. I would like to introduce you guys to my brother, Richard Year in the thing. Hey, what's going on, everybody?
SPEAKER_05:Hey!
SPEAKER_03:You already know.
SPEAKER_05:Oh man. God is good.
SPEAKER_03:They're about to get some vibes today, bro. Okay. They're about to get some vibes. Listen, you guys, when I was thinking about um this podcast or this segment of the Unlearned uh podcast, the second act, um, I really wanted to bring people on who have stories that really capture um hidden struggles, things that people may not see or know, but that give stories of triumph and victory, and that can really help people through times of uncertainty and times where they feel like, man, I really thought that the first act of my life was setting me up one way, but then I got to the intermission, right? I got something happened that threw me off course, and I need to figure out how to redirect myself back to what God always intended for my life. And you guys, Rich has almost if I could have written the story for my by myself for what an amazing second act looked like, I would have absolutely adopted his narrative because what God has done in his life is nothing more than tremendous. And you see what's behind my brother, okay? He already set the stage. We got Jyra in the back, okay. God, our provider, okay, and Rich, I'm so excited for people to hear more about who you are and what God has done in your life.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, following that act and that introduction, I don't know how I'm gonna live up to the expectations that you've placed on my life. But I tell you this, with his help and putting me behind the cross, and may I decrease so that he can increase. I tell you this. Um and I appreciate uh everything. Uh I appreciate you inviting me into this space. I appreciate your heart. I appreciate the relationship that we've cultivated behind the scenes over the past three years as brother and sister in Christ, as as colleagues. Um in so many different capacities, we have exercised the liberty in Christ to be who he's called us to be together, right? Over the past three years. And so I I just want to say to you, um, this space that you've created, I bless it in Jesus' name and that it'll continue to grow. Um, because I'm I'm humbled and honored uh that you invited me into this space. So thank you, first and foremost.
SPEAKER_03:Appreciate that, bro.
SPEAKER_02:I appreciate that, bro.
SPEAKER_03:I want you I want you to help us set the scene, right? When we think about when uh when we go to a play, or even when we might watch a movie, right? It's literally broken up into these different acts, right? And you have the first act where you're introduced to a character, you learn a little bit about their story, you learn about some of their pitfalls, some of their strengths, some of their weaknesses, but you really start to uh build a hope around who that character is going to become. Can you tell me a little bit about the beginning of your story? And feel free to start it anywhere that you like, about what was your first act, what was the story being written that kind of started to build the character that we were learning in the beginning of your narrative?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I mean, so October 14th, 1996, uh, you know, I was born to Janice and Richard. Yeah, I was born to Richard and Janice Jurgen in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Um, and my father being Richard Jurgen Sr. And you know, having had my older brother, him and I 11 and a half years apart, you know, that was a whole narrative within itself. Like my dad's name's Richard, my older brother's name is Richard, and now I'm the third like incarnation of Richard, right? Within the same household, but a whole different generation, right? Oh because my brother and I being 11 and a half years apart, my parents being 40 years of age when they had me, right? That was a challenge in within itself, right? And so my entire life has been on accelerated mode. So I started school actually a year earlier than most, and I was put in um like a really gifted like learner type situation early on in my life that helped speed up my development and my growth because where I went to school, they taught a grade or two ahead, and they gave you more than you can handle. Um, and it was a very strict curriculum, and I spent a lot of time with my grandmother, my father's mother, Margaret Jurgen. And you know, my grandmother, you know, she just like any praying grandma, she knew how to get through to the Lord. Um, and I think early on in my life, what helped set the stage was losing her. Um, at such a young pivotal age for me in the third grade, shifted the whole narrative for me because that safety net of what I'm describing to you that I grew up in was altered. It was disrupted, right? With the death of my grandmother or the sudden death thereof of my grandmother. I had spent from 96 all the way to the third grade almost every other day. When I get out of school, my routine was I go to grandma's house. I'm in the kitchen with grandma. My uncle lives in the back. My grandfather had passed when I was two years old. So I got an old school grandma. She's from Simpsonville, South Carolina, right here. Yeah, so she's old school. Yeah, yeah. They migrated down in like the 60s when work was good because my grandfather, he's a tradesman with his hands by by nature. He's a he's a he's a craftman. So he moved, they moved down there and shifted our family down there for more opportunity. So and so I was kind of like my grandmother's little guy. You know what I mean? Like out of all of her grandkids. I mean, I got a lot of cousins, a lot of, you know, my grandmother birthed four boys, and my father is the youngest. And so she got a lot of grandkids. And so I was sort of like her baby, the one that she really, her arm baby. Like everybody else gets a certain amount of food, but my food put off to the side.
SPEAKER_03:Now you you were that cousin. You was that cousin. Your plate already in the refrigerator. So you the one I don't like.
SPEAKER_05:I'm good. I stole your plate. I'm gonna tell you that right now. I'm good. I got the I got the remote to all the TVs, I got the universal remote.
SPEAKER_01:Oh no.
SPEAKER_05:I got access to the one that played all the channels. Like, so I she's giving me all the access to the refrigerator. Everybody else gotta ask for permission. I always had you taste. First taste, I'm always tasting the banana pudding off top. Like off top. Soon as I get home from school. As soon as I get home from school.
SPEAKER_03:See, nah, you the you the banana pudding grandchild. I know nobody likes you now. Ain't you no way? I really, I really want to hone in, Rich, on this idea of living legacy, right? Because you have your father, Richard, you have your older brother Richard, and you have you the third, right? And a lot of times when you have like a senior, a junior, and a third, when you talk about those being different generations, they are literally like grandfather, father, son, but kind of all being kind of in not in the same space because you grew up with your grandmother. How did that impact your understanding of who you were meant to be? Like, did you see the other riches and say I'm supposed to be like them? Or were you trying to find your own identity?
SPEAKER_05:Well, I always knew I wanted to be a businessman, and I always knew I wanted to be somewhat of a hustler. I I knew the game, right? At a very young age, you got a job, but you got another job. You know what I mean? Whatever that may look like. I don't know what that might look like.
SPEAKER_03:You got this on the top. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:You know what I'm saying? And so I always seen my dad go to work, right? My father worked for the county um in housing and finance. HBCU grad graduated from South Carolina State secretly, don't tell nobody.
unknown:He was the bad guy.
SPEAKER_05:And and right, and and so my life has been like predestined, right? Like my dad played football, played sports growing up, but he didn't have that support system like I had in terms of the early age development. My grandfather, I told you, he worked on roofs and with his hands. He ain't got time, like he's old school, he ain't got time to back in them days be talking about taking him to football, practice, and that man is out there working and fighting for his life every day. So my dad was fighting for his life. Like he was a first generation college student. You know what I'm saying? So he's trying to figure it out. So now I know it's incumbent upon me to go to college, right? Like my brother goes to South Carolina State, pledges Q, plays football for Buddy Pew. I mean, he's living the life. He marries a Delta, he yeah, he's living his greatest life, you know what I'm saying? Like, so I grew up seeing, right? And being a young boy, like, oh, I know I'm going to South Carolina State, like, you know, wherever. I'm going somewhere. I don't know. I'm just for whatever, right? At that point in time.
SPEAKER_03:And that's so interesting, though, that like that all of y'all were like football players, right? When did football enter into your life? Or was it just kind of always there?
SPEAKER_05:It was always kind of there, uh, naturally, because my older brother, like I said, um, set the stage for that for me, right? Because I would grow up going to his high school games, I would grow up um traveling to his college games. Check this out, by train. Because you got to think, I'm growing up in Fort Lauderdale.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_05:He's in SC State. He's at South Carolina State. We're 11 and a half years apart. I'm maybe like second, third grade, he's in college, right? My dad's raising and my mom, right? But they also got to take care of him, even though he's, you know, so my mom wasn't able to always make a lot of what was going on in terms of like games, because my mom does hair by nature. So, you know, if you're a hairstylist, you you won't call you gotta be available. Friday night at Friday night. I mean, you know, they need them perms. Let's call it what it is. You know what I'm saying? And so my mom, the hustler, right? Like the second act, my mom sells clothes, she, you know, got her own boutique, got her on this, that, Mary K, you know. So my mom, my dad's the businessman, loan officer, dealing with houses. My mom, she's getting it. Bom, bum, bum. So that's the that's the operation, right?
SPEAKER_03:That I'm saying that's the environment you're growing up in. Right. Every everybody's getting to it.
SPEAKER_05:Everybody's getting to it. Nobody's sitting around with idle hands. You know what I'm saying? Like everybody's moving, everybody's got something to do. And so my dad and I would travel up to see my brother at least like two or three times a year. Um make every game because I was playing little league football now at this time, right? So now I'm being introduced, but my brother is light years ahead of me. He's in college, but you know, on his journey on the back end of it, I'm on the very front end of mind. You see what I'm saying? So I'm growing up, going and seeing, like, oh, I know I'm gonna play in college. My brother's playing in college, right? Seeing the fullness of the process at a young starting age. And so I'm hungry because I gotta get on a train, right? Like, we ain't got it like that to get on no plane. Sometimes that life in the second act, yeah, you know. So for me, I I understand, I see it, I know how all this works at a very young age. Father's battle with cancer, you know. Like I said, we just lost my grandmother, his mom, he was dealing with loose properties, it's 08, the recession's about to hit, you know, so it's it's a lot of things that are happening around us while we're trying to move forward that birthed a football player. If that kid that was an innocent, like church going kid, that you know, grandma, like raise him up in the church, don't go outside past the porch because you know them little thugs be down there on the corner. Uh-huh. You know, and I'm I don't need you going down there. Yeah. You stay in the yard and you look from a distance over there.
SPEAKER_03:No, a lot of us had that stay in the yard uh rules.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Don't go too far. Don't go too far now. Stay where I can see you. Water that grass right there. Don't move past that part right there. Don't go down that apartments. The apartments on the other side, though. What you say? Don't go over that too. What you say? Because it was a place literally two blocks from my grandmother called the Gov, the government apartments. That's what it is. I mean, you know, they hang their clothes on the clothesline outside, and you know, but you know, they pool is the community pool, and you know, you know, you know how all the rest of that go. My grandmother was like, Look, you're a porch kid. You know what I'm saying? I don't want you out there. But when grandma gone and you off the porch and you playing football now with your homeboys and everybody you play. Yeah. It's a whole different vibe. Now, now, now Jurg is on the scene. Lil' Lil Jurg is hilarious.
SPEAKER_03:But you know, I think it's so funny to me. One, I loved what you said when you talked about how you were going to see your brother, and it was like Richard, little Richard looking at older Richard and seeing yourself in the future. And so even though, you know, you were little Richard at the time playing little league football, and you were a porch kid, right? You had a vision of my older brother, you know, football player in a fraternity at a HBCU. He's that guy, you know, and like, and so like you're building this vision of of who you're going to become. Um and and uh when I look back on my own life, right, I I didn't necessarily have kind of the vision or or kind of that example, you know. Unfortunately, I am not a Dekuita the third. Um, there was no Draquita Jr. or no Jaquita Sr. Uh, but you know, and and I was, you know, really first generation. So I didn't really know what I was building to, but like you, I had the safeguards around me to say, you don't do what the other kids do because there's a vision ahead of you. And maybe what your grandma saw was what was ahead of you. We gotta protect you here so that we can protect what's ahead of you. Um, and I I I love that you say that, you know, that you were a porch kid until until Yuri came on the scene. So Yuri came on the scene.
SPEAKER_05:And I started looking around and saying, oh, they hotboxing in Jack and Cars over there. Oh, they they stealing. Oh, they, you know, you in it now. You in the world.
SPEAKER_03:You supposed to see all that. Man, you weren't supposed to go off that porch now. We told you, we told you not to go off that porch. But it's how many times, you know, even of course, as young people, we gonna test the boundaries, right? We gonna we're gonna go off the porch. We wanna see what's that what's happening at the apartment. We wanna see what's over there. But the the thing is, is that even in some of our adult years, right? There are things that we got God has placed safeguards around us to protect the identity that we're growing into, to the vision that He's taking us to, to the dream, to the second act. You know, your grandma was literally protecting your second act while you were in the first act. She was preparing you, saying, Hey, listen, you can't go because where you where you're going, I gotta protect you here on this side of it, so that you'll have what you need when you're going. But we all like to go off that porch, man. We we all like to go and see what everybody else is doing when a path for you to be different, for you to be set apart had already been laid. But I ain't I ain't judging you, my brother. Okay, because listen, we all got off that path a time or two. So, so talk to me about how your identity, because football player and a college football player specifically, was kind of the vision that was set before you as a as a young child and where you saw yourself kind of building to, right? To college, to football, to I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I know I had to get there. Talk to me about high school, right? Because I'm sensing that that might be, that might be when the porch, when we got up off the porch, right? So, so and and high school is also, I was not a student athlete, although I kind of was because I was in the band, and I don't care what y'all say, marching band was a sport. We've already had this argument on the podcast before, right? But I I I imagine as an athlete that becomes such a part of your identity, right? How did that how did you kind of navigate that during those years where you were deciding who you were gonna be as a young man?
SPEAKER_05:I appreciate that question. Um It started with church. Um started as a junior deacon. You know, getting on that right path after middle school had some rocky moments and some times, you know, where I was really trying to figure it out. Like it was either gonna be or not be with life. Um and God led me to greener pastures, and what I mean by that is a kid being from the inner city of Fort Lauderdale and being sent across the trip, the railroad tracks is a big deal. So I was accepted into a private school environment where my parents did not have to pay much of pretty much anything. Tuition there is reductive, yeah. Tuition there is about maybe$12,000 to$18,000 a year, just to be like completely blunt and transparent. Yeah, I had to take an entrance exam because my middle school years were not good as far as attendance, behavior, and coursework, right? The ABCs did not match, right? The entrance exam scores that I that I presented when I went to take the entrance exam to get into this uh this school. And so my dad knew he was like, you know, in order for you to really make it, you gotta leave being around what's familiar to you, right?
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:So I I think the the hardest thing was when my parents dropped me off into an environment where You know, for the very first time, and I say this candidly, I was around people that didn't look like me for the first time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And so that energy that I lead with, talking greasy and talking like from the street or talking raw, like that language to hear a young Caucasian man, um you know, that father, that grandfather, excuse me, owns a golf course on that side of town, right?
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:Near the beach.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Say to me, I don't understand anything you're saying today. Slow down when you speak. That was what changed life for me, and I had to learn how to decompartmentalize everybody. Don't come from that. You know what I'm saying? Like sometimes slow down and like deal with people where they are. Because I'm coming to an environment that's not necessarily built for me, but God's already gone ahead, made the provision to be here, right? He's cleaned my record for me to dwell amongst people that are of the affluent. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I'm going to school with the mayor's son, the judge's son, these influential people in Fort Lauderdale. Now, Fort Lauderdale, again, a lot happened over the course of time in Fort Lauderdale. And one of the things that happened was the inner city is where all the talent comes from. If we want to be very blunt, I'm just telling you. The talent did not come from the suburbs. It came from the inner city. So they called, we answered, and we came running because I said there's opportunity. I'm going to meet opportunity with passion. Right? I'm going to show these people everything I got because, first of all, my parents, they worked their entire lives. Like I said, starting me off at a program when I was really young with strict curriculum where I knew competitively I can compete with them in the classroom. Like I was, I was, I was playing down to my level of the competition around me once I realized like they're not that much smarter than me.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And I became a 4.5 student. I became an AP honor roll student. I'm just talking about the student right now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Right. And that was through seeking out um help, right? So I learned one of the biggest things I had to do was admit I don't know everything, right? And I need to ask for help. I mean, you got world-class teachers teaching you every day with crazy backgrounds. I mean, you got some of the best faculty, some of the best exposure. So the environment in and itself, right, like started to challenge me to think like, I'm joining student government in ninth grade, running for class prep in an environment where it wasn't too many people that would try something like that. They was looking around, like, hey, what's going on? And I was here. I was like, hey, I'll sign up, I'll run against you. And it right there, it was like, whoa. You know, I realized I said, you know what? It's gonna be easy to take over on the field if I could take over in the classroom.
SPEAKER_01:Whoa.
SPEAKER_03:Let me tell you something, because I think, you know, I I've been watching, I like to watch athletic shows. I was not an athlete except for marching band, which is a sport. But I wasn't an athlete, but for some reason I love watching shows about athletes. And so recently I just watched a show on Apple TV called Swagger. Have you seen Swagger? It's so good. It's so good. Go check it out. But you know, it's a it's a young, it's a young basketball player who's getting it from the inner city and watching the journey of people. It's so one, when you have such a gift, when you have a type of gift that people can uh can kind of rally behind and get behind, such as being like a really good athlete, right? People will get behind, you know, a young inner city kid that's athletic, that's gonna be getting it, right? But what you're telling me is is that you were not one-dimensional, right? And that you had many gifts, and that God, and I love the way that you said that when you were younger, those gifts were already starting to be on display, right? You were already starting to be in gifted and talented programs, you were already skipped a grade. So when you got into this new atmosphere, you may not have been able at first to talk like you belong, but you had everything in you that you needed to succeed on that level, right? And if we were to look at you as a one-dimensional being, we'd be like, oh yeah, his whole journey was to go play football because he's Richard Yeergin, right? He he's another Richard. So he's gonna be another football player, he's gonna go to another HBCU, he's gonna do it just like his father and his brother did it. But God, even though you did have that, right, you have your legacy, but you have your identity as well, right? And so we're all carrying, we're carrying what was given to us from our parents, from our families, from our situations. But then there's this part of our life that God leaves for us to define for ourselves, right? And you got an opportunity that nobody else in your family got to have a different launching pad, right? You got to go across the tracks, you got to go to this rich school with these affluent people and have a different start because everything that was in you needed the opportunity to thrive.
SPEAKER_05:There you go.
SPEAKER_03:And so I love I love that that you were in this uh, and I love that because you know, listen, we we get in these we get in these type of situations where somebody tells us, I don't understand what you're saying, and immediately the black woman in me was like, excuse me, what you mean? You don't understand what I'm saying, right? Like something in you rises up. You wanna fight, you know, you get offended. Yeah, yeah, you mean what you mean? It's English, ain't it? Right. And there's there's no disregard of where you came from, but there's still the realization that in the space, I still need to be heard, I need to be understood. And I can't wait for them to get me, I need to get them. I can't wait for everybody to learn how to understand me and to and to get on my level. I need I need to figure out what I need to do on the scene so that I can push and make moves. And I think sometimes we get into new situations in life and we walk into a new place that has a different set of standards that may be right or wrong. I'm not here to argue that, but it's different. And we get in those spaces and we say, you have to accept me as I am, and you gotta make space for me. And I'm not saying that they shouldn't, but what happens when they don't? I'm not saying that they shouldn't take the time to get to know you and get to know your language and get to know how you talk and be okay with who you are, but what are we gonna do when they don't? You still gotta do what you have to do to get in the room and to stay in the room. And sometimes we're gonna have to, as we're uh moving through talking about kind of our first act and some of the challenges that you were facing and some of the different elements of your story that were kind of building up to the next piece of your narrative, there is a space where you are gonna have to go through some things and you are gonna have to be the person to say, okay, I'm gonna figure out this landscape. Because once I get real, real good at this, I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna bring, I'm bringing more with me. Y'all couldn't understand me, but when I when I get the opportunity, I'm coming back and I'm coming back with more of us. But I I gotta make space while I'm at the table and I gotta get to the table. Um, and so I love how you navigated that as a young person. Because a lot of a lot of people would would not have handled it that way.
SPEAKER_05:Well, here's the thing. We think people are getting on to us when we don't conjugate our nouns and our verbs properly. When we when we don't take the time to express our fullness of our thought process, right? And we just talk it off the top of the head all the time, right? And what I learned in that environment is when you're around people who come from like money and stuff like that, they joke a little different, right? It's a little bit like you when you're young, right, and you know my people, we always have money, you free. Like I saw some stuff in private school that I never would have saw even with us, and the stuff that they can get away with versus the stuff I couldn't get away with while I was there was different, right? Like, I mean, for example, if you're the mayor's son and you want to go egging the entire um A18 by the beach and hitting old people with eggs, you're not gonna get in trouble doing it. All they're gonna say to you is, hey man, cut that out. That's not cool, man. Call your dad.
SPEAKER_03:Stop that, buddy.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly. I'm gonna call your daddy, call him. But if I am doing it by myself with my friends from the other side and come to their side and do that, we're going to jail. Like we're going to jail. You see what I'm saying? So I learned that too, which was what empowered me even more on the field, was because I wasn't just a football player, but I learned how to be a leader first. So everything that I did was to help the team. I never put me first.
SPEAKER_03:Break it down. Break it down.
SPEAKER_05:So I was always willing to do the dirty work. So I initially started out as a safety in high school. My whole time, so from a position standpoint, a safety is the person furthest from the ball. And so for me, I was used to playing up on the ball. But what happened to me was when I first got to high school, I was underdeveloped. I was maybe about 5'10, 5'11, maybe 160 pounds soaking wet. But out of nowhere in the middle of my ninth grade year, I had that growth spurt that you would have going into high school.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And going into 10th grade. Now all of a sudden, I'm 6'3, 200 pounds, and everybody looking around like, What do you come from? Where'd he come from? Whoa. And so the value that they projected when I was younger exceeded. And so now they were like, Whoa, he done got real smart, real big, and he's real aggressive now. So it like that kid that came in a year ago. Well, he's a he walk around like a man now. He done been lifting weights and he on the program, he's serious. And so now I'm asking questions. I'm sitting down with the head coach, what's your goals? How many games you plan on us winning next year? Maybe one more than the last one. Okay, I'm I'm I'm leaving. This is where this is where I exit, because me and you, we're not talking the same language. So I appreciate the initial opportunity, but now this is business, right? And so I'm gonna take my talents to the next best program, which is Down the Street, which is another rival program, which is a private school that has a challenging curriculum and everything. And so now everything that I've learned there, I take to this next place. And this is where I become an all-American. University finds me, all this stuff starts to happen. My GPA is through the roof. I become a top five African-American scholar athlete in the country. All these things happen, and so now everybody in the country wants me. I'm choosing between University of Florida, Notre Dame, University of Texas, Clemson, and University of Michigan. And so I'm getting pulled in many different directions by all these politicians to sign with Notre Dame and do all this stuff, and they're gonna take care of my family, was one of the best decisions in my life. But it was also one of the hardest because let's be honest, in most black families, money can be the root of all evil. I'll just be honest with you. And what I started to learn was everybody could count the money faster than you can make it. And so when you're young and you have a lot of potential and people are thinking pro, I'm in high school. I'm not even ready for the pros yet. But when you're performing at that level, when everybody's looking at you, now you've become the center of attention, you're in the news every week, you're in the newspaper, everybody knows your business. I can't go out anywhere publicly with my girl at the time, or girl, or anybody without people and chatting. And so I started to understand that like be careful what you ask for in life, because when you get it and people know who you are, that comes with a certain level of, again, expectations that are placed on your life that maybe you didn't sign up for. But now you've worked and worked and worked from the background to have this life, live this life, be a top-ranked player, all these things, have schools wanting you. Now you got to make a sound decision. And you only make a decision one time, right?
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:It's not like it is today where guys are transferring and doing different things. Like you make a decision, you gotta stand on that all ten toes firmly. And so, you know, for me, I knew it wasn't gonna be an HBCU no more. I knew that dream of playing for Buddy Pew fast, you know. Um and I knew that, you know, the reality was I was gonna be playing at a big time institution. And I was thankful for that. And um, you know, all of that hard work that I did off the field, it paid off not only in the academia, but the athletic side. Um, and it helped prepare me for my opportunity, you know, once I once I got the college.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. One, I all American, come on, you bro. So it's it's so funny to me. It's it's almost as if the Lord kept elevating your profile, you know, like you would you started off, you know, Lil' League football and you had the vision, right? Because again, you're Richard Euron III, and you had your dad who did this, and you had your brother who did this. But it's almost like the Lord kept giving you these like boosters, like, I'm gonna launch you forward here, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna put you in a private school. I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you, you know, four, five more inches, you know. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna put a little bit more dynamic power inside of you, right? It's almost like you kept getting these little, these boosts that kind of launched you forward um to the point where your story, I think, became more than like what you just said, it became more than what you expected it would. That first act was just you just kind of zooming forward, and you kept, and I'm sure that, you know, because again, I watch these little athletic shows and movies, okay, right? And just the the amount of pressure it that is on a talented young person who everybody has their hope built on. Right now, you succeeding is the family succeeding, right? You you going forth to the next level is all of us. This for all of us, this for the community, this for the neighborhood, this for the hurgens, this for the, you know, this is for everybody. And going and and being in kind of this first act of your life, and us literally seeing the weight of that pressure on you, right? Like we see the enormity of the gift, right? We see the enormity of the opportunity, but we also feel the extreme weight of the pressure that you were under as you were now about to become a college athlete in a really on a really, really visible platform, right? Um, and so you had some successful years though as a college athlete, right? You need some things. Some things happen for you, right? Yeah, talk to me about what it was like competing, you know. Now you're in a place, right? You you have now gotten to the place that little Richard was at when he was looking at older Richard, right? When he was traveling to see, you know, his brother's games with Richard Sr. Right. You're and now you're there, right? You're at the point where you have now exceeded everyone's expectations. You're on a high-profile team doing doing big things. Okay. Uh, talk to me about what that was like both on and off the field.
SPEAKER_05:Man, it was a lot, and I say this, you know, pressure is a privilege that most people don't prioritize.
SPEAKER_03:That's good. Oh, wait, what? Because that's a way I'm gonna go to it. Pressure is a privilege.
SPEAKER_05:Is a privilege that most people don't prioritize. That's good. So they never reach their promise.
SPEAKER_03:I should have known you was gonna come on here preaching. I don't even know why I thought you was just gonna get on here and talk about it.
SPEAKER_05:Pressure is a privilege that most people What I'm saying is everything you just talked about, it was a privilege to go through that. It was a privilege to see life in a way that most people would dream of. And it not had to be about money, but it was through education. And one of the things I kept showing me was the more you study, the more I'll show myself, I'll show you approved, right? So, like the more you spend time off the field trying to figure it out, I'll help you figure it out on the field. So my time at university, it was challenging because I experienced the very high of college football. You win a national championship, you're a year away from signing a contract that could change you and your family's life.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And you know, in the middle of that, you meet adversity. James 1, 2 through 4. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials and tribulations of many kinds, because it will produce that testing of that faith is gonna produce perseverance. And on June 3rd, 2017, after all the parades and all the the great ride, and you know, we're about to get this degree and we're about to ride off into the sunset, most accidents happen when you're five miles away from the destination. Seriously, most accidents when you when you're real close to something, that's where that pressure turns up. And for me, the pressure was on my head, literally, 2,000 pounds of it. And to say life got flipped upside down and totally caught me by surprise would be an understatement because God never says, oops, or my bad, right? And so I'm never gonna shame the devil and not glorify God, right? Like what happened was a shifting of an assignment. What happened was a shifting of a calling. What happened was why me? No, no, why not me? And so what I had to realize was I was in God's waiting room as I sat, I woke up in the hospital after having overcome, you know, a terrible one person automobile accident where I hydroplane and I wake up screaming Jesus' name, right? Because I saw the white clouds of heaven for a split moment as I Remember flipping and I go, Oh, you know, and I'm looking and I'm waking up in the hospital and I'm talking to a doctor.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:And he's telling me you should be dead or paralyzed for life. And you're neither. Congratulations. You're neither. Congratulations. You're gonna walk again at some point. You're gonna play football, but it'll be a long time. You're gonna hate your life though for the next six months because you're gonna be on bed rest. And that was my verdict in guy's waiting room.
SPEAKER_03:And I said, And it was a head injury.
SPEAKER_05:It was a head injury and it was a neck. Essentially, from levels C5 through C6 or C5 through C7 are fused. So they went in through the front, got to the back, opened me up, and fused the three levels together, or the two levels together. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And on your head. First of all, you just dropped so many gems. All like and you you took me, you took us fast. But that most accidents happen five miles within your destination.
SPEAKER_05:Destination. Yeah. Yeah. When you're real close, that's when most accidents.
SPEAKER_03:When you're real close, when you're real close, guys, when you're real close, that's when something is coming for you. And it's coming to take off your head, right? And I'm so grateful. One, I'm grateful that the enemy didn't get any victory that day, because for you to have gone through that accident and to wake up and the doctor tell you that you are either supposed to be dead or paralyzed, but you're neither, right? I'm sure in that moment you might you felt both the blessing and again the pressure and the weight of that, right? Like there, there's a there's still a life, right? We had a whole vision. We we had contracts on the line. We were about to go to the next level, right? We had we had an idea of what the second act was gonna look like, right? All right, Lord, the first act already I fulfilled that. I made it to the college football team at a at a top-tier institution, won national championship. I'm out here and I'm about to go, I'm about to go to the level that I know God wanted me to go to next, which is to sign contracts to continue to play professionally. But what uh Rich, I think it's so interesting to me because we talked earlier about how when I look through your life journey, I see where God sent these boosts where you were just launching forward and launching forward and launching forward. And the accident to anybody else would have looked like a setback, but it actually was another boost. It was it looked like a setback, but it was actually a setup. See, I love having, I love having y'all. Let me tell y'all something. One of the first days I met Richard, we were in class together. And this man, you know, everybody else pulling out their laptop, their notebooks, we getting ready to take notes. I look at Richard's desk, I'm like, is that a Bible and a prayer show? He took out his Bible and his prayer show and had it on the desk. And I said, I said, he had the word on me. He said, Oh yeah, I'm always keeping that thing on me. And ever since then, I said, This is about to be my brother. Anybody who pop out with a Bible and a prayer show to to our uh what class probably our quality method is.
SPEAKER_05:The quality search.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, the call research. I was like, okay, I see you.
SPEAKER_05:I see you, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:With this guy right here. Um but any anybody else would have saw a setback. Anybody else would have said he lost everything. He lost everything, right? And I love the other thing that you uh said that I will be stealing. Um, you said that you were in God's waiting room. Intermission, baby. That's what an intermission is. You get to a point where in the first act, we had the we had the vision, we had the playbook, if you will, right? We knew, all right, I'm gonna go to this level, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna rock it out in the classroom, I'm gonna rock it out on the field. You know, I'm gonna enjoy my four years so I can get to the next level of this thing. You had the playbook, but then God pulled you into an intermission. He pulled you into a waiting room and said, hold on, because you're about to make your life into something. And and a lot of people would maybe sit and talk about what you missed out on, but you don't know who you miss becoming that would not that would have changed not just the trajectory of what you did for your family, but it might have introduced you to some things that you would not have been able to turn away from. Because you are the guy that's supposed to stay on the porch. See, that that you gotta stay on the porch.
SPEAKER_05:That's deep. That's that's deep.
SPEAKER_01:That's deep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's deep. And and and all through your life, and you know, I'm sure you could tell us all the notes about, you know, the times you went off the porch, about the times you did some things that seemed like they were completely contradictory to who God was calling you to be, right? I know you have those stories, but everywhere you look, God still had his hand of protection and he had his hedge around you. That even in those times where you went out of the yard, right? Um, but you had you had um you had this grandmother who set a who set a pattern for your life that the enemy could not break. She set the pattern that this is a porch kid. This is a kid that's gonna stay close to the house because of what's inside of him. He can only be exposed to so much. He can only get involved in so much because the call on his life is greater than the call that maybe he had seen, than the legacy that he had adopted. There's something else to him, there's something more to him, and you had to grab other pieces of your identity to get to it. So you're in a hospital, the enemy tried to take off your head, completely fail. Right? Well, how are you processing that moment honestly?
SPEAKER_05:I was so confused because again, I was just talking about all my plans and graduation and moving forward and my legacy beyond university that I wasn't focused on the moment, right? Because I couldn't grasp all of that was kind of in question, right? And so my mindset is I'm so used to acceleration going forward. My position is to take on a blocker head first, right? Like everything is a head first mentality for me, right? And for once, I had to let God lead head first. It wasn't about me being physical, it was about me getting mentally stronger to be able to sustain for when I'm now 30 years old, trying to pursue a PhD and raise a family and be sane, right? My Lord. Just be honest, because a lot of folks that go on to play professionally in sports, when they retire, they don't transition well financially, yeah, faith-wise. A lot of things take root in their life, and I had a chance to experience that early without all the money, without all of the things, right? And so God really had me in a place of submission where I had to come to him for every little thing. God, can I get up and can I go to the bathroom without feeling pain? God, can I get in the car and turn my head and eventually be able to drive without you know what I'm saying? I had to depend on him. My wife now, girlfriend, then need a shower. Can you help me do that? You know what I'm saying? Like pick me up out the bed, a big 6'4, 270-pound man out of his bed to get in the shower, to get his day going, so that I can go to treatment and you know, so life in and itself, I'm so used to go, go, go. It was whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, big fella. You know what I mean? I like that's hard to slow me down and tell me sit still.
SPEAKER_03:And so you can see my brother is doing this interview standing up, right? Yeah, like that's how much he don't like being still. Okay, he was like, I might have to do some demonstrations, I don't know what I'm having to do.
SPEAKER_05:But I was confined to the bed, and that's the hardest place to be while hallucinating, right? About what should have been, right? And then writing about where you are and where you want to go and not knowing how you're gonna get there.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:While you were in God's waiting room, right? There's there's still the vision, like you, and I think that's what is so important to understand about the intermission seasons of our life. You have not lost the vision of what was. You can still clearly see what you were hoping and expecting for in a past season, right? And you don't yet see what's ahead.
SPEAKER_05:You don't can't see it.
SPEAKER_03:You can't see it, but I'm wondering, Rich, how do you how do you transition? How do you make the turn to say, okay, I have grieved what I lost and I'm now ready to endeavor into what God has for me now? So how do you make that turn?
SPEAKER_05:Three-step process that I used, and it's not TLC, but it's TDC. And uh TDC, time, uh, distance and covering. Um, you know, it's one thing to give your life to the Lord when you're a young man, you know, after my grandmother passed in the third grade, I you know we all Lord, the spirit hit you. Yeah, you see everybody getting communion, and then what happens to you is you want to you don't want to be like not like the rest of the other Sunday school kids and not like know Jesus, you know what I mean? Because when they call on you and ask you who knows them, then they tell you to recite the 23rd Psalm and you don't know it and you feel bad. And so you start you start feeling convicted early, which is a good thing. But then that teaching and what keeps you and sustains you over the course of time is having a real relationship with Christ, right? And that's where that piece kicked in for the first time. I wasn't giving God my plans and saying, Here go my plans, approve them. I was finally saying, Hey, like, I actually work for you. You don't work for me. Because the thing was, I got so transactional with God, like, okay, I do this, I do that, then you give me this, you give me that, and for this time, you didn't give me this, so I didn't get that. And so then I started having conversations with him, like, hey yo, my man, like you left me. He's like, No, no, no, I didn't leave you, I told you to wait.
SPEAKER_03:And it and it's I felt that in my, I felt that in my uh Sean, nah nah. I've I told you to wait. I told you to wait.
SPEAKER_05:I told you to wait. I told you John 13, 7, I'm watching you right now. I just got done, I just got done watching you. Just chill. I'm trying to show you something.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:You don't understand it now, but you'll understand it later once I'm finished with you. And it's like it's like when when a man leaves you in that position, you don't understand what I'm doing now, but you'll understand later. It's like, what do you mean? Like, why what what's going on? Like, I'm confused. Like, I've been I've been running my whole life, and now you got me sitting up here getting a pedicure and a manicure in the waiting room. I don't do that. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I ain't got time for that. Like, but God, like, no, no, no, you have time for what I tell you, you now have time for. That's it. Like, that there's no debate.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because the the vision, the vision of what was, right? Like, I'm sure that like the the opportunities that were presenting themselves before the incident, they're they're no longer there. I I'm sure people are sending regrets now, right? But but God is saying, sisil, son, Cecile, I got you. I'm what I I love the I'm washing you.
SPEAKER_01:Right?
SPEAKER_03:Because I I think what we don't give God the opportunity to do, which is exactly what you have to do. Oh, Lord, I'm sorry, I'm feeling I'm getting some answers from my own life right now. And if I just go off in a moment and just, you know, but but what we don't do in between the first act and the second act is we don't take that time in the intermission to allow God to wash us of that old vision, of that old understanding of ourselves, of that old hope. Because maybe what we had written for ourselves was not the plan that he had all along. And at the time, Rich, and Rich is still young, you know. I Rich is a whole, you don't get fooled, you know, he he done lived five million lives, okay. But Rich is Rich is a youngin', okay. He's one of my young friends. Um, but but you know, at the time, you know, we don't think about, you know, having to grieve that version of ourselves. But you absolutely you have to take a moment and let it go. And that's a process. And and that's what makes the intermission so significant. You know, it's the it's the washing.
SPEAKER_05:I think I think the thing is in the intermission when Jesus sat his disciples down and he did to them what they thought they should have been doing for him, that confused them. It's like he loved me before I loved him, and so he washed my feet when I was dirty and helped make me clean, but I didn't peep because I'm thinking it's just about the feet, but it's about the spirit behind the act of sacrificing the time for Christ to say, listen, I got a plan. It's not what you think, but I got a plan. And now at 30, right, or going on 30, I could see what I couldn't see at 20. Ten years ago, I was confused. Ten years later, I have clarity.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, it's been 10 years.
SPEAKER_05:That's 10 years, that's a decade of battling with my identity. A decade.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:Of becoming.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:That's what we're talking about. Whole 10 years of becoming. Spent the whole 10 years.
SPEAKER_03:Rich, that is so stinking good. Okay. So we're in this intermission season, um, and you had this old vision that had these guardrails on it, where God had done so much, you know, and I think that's the other thing. Uh I I really want to encourage people because a lot of times when we look at the first act of our lives, the way you tell the story matters. Right? The way, the way you explain to people your beginning and your starting place, it matters, right? And so a lot of times we tell the starting place and and we tell it from a state of, you know, yeah, here's what I, you know, I almost was this and I almost was that. And and and I almost had this, and but you had so much, you know, your first act was so rich, and God, like I said, kept giving you these boosts. And and I go back to when you said the the that pressure was a privilege, right? Everything that you gained in that first act is gonna be so critical for where you are now as a person that reaches back to people who are now in their first act, right? And so I'm wondering as you are in that season, you know, because when we talk about washing, God is not washing away the lessons that you learned, he's not washing away um what he's built inside of you, he's washing all of the things that got added on top of his vision for your life so that he can get you back to his original intent. Yes. How did you, because you know, now you know, Rich is out here, we out here, we three years into a PhD program, you know what I'm saying? We about to be doctors in a year, okay? Catch us May 2027, me and my brother live at Little John.
SPEAKER_05:Little John.
SPEAKER_03:Live at little, let me tell you something. Live and in live and in full effect, baby, okay, because I'm so ready to be done with a PhD. Okay, all my PhD friends, if you if you in the struggle with us, man, send us send us some encouragement. Let's encourage each other in the Lord. Because when I tell you this last little step, got me, got I'm like, let's just do this, let's do this and get it done in Jesus' name. But talk to me about what I I'm I'm understanding your first act. I think I have a picture of your intermission and kind of and kind of how you felt during there. And if you'd like to talk more about the intermission season, more than happy to. Yeah. Um well, let's talk a little bit more about the intermission. What, what, what, how did we transition through that and out of it?
SPEAKER_05:So I became a father, right? You know, I think in b in the midst of all of that, the hardest thing you can do in college is become a parent out of wedlock. Yeah. And I think the challenge for me was I was in grad school. I was coaching at the time because I wasn't quite sure what my future was gonna look like. Coach extended grace for me to be able to be on staff as a student coach and still work on um getting my master's in AL. So what God was doing at the intermission, see, what God was doing at the intermission was preparing me to be a professor.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:I didn't see it then. You see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Because I'm coaching, I'm a father now, I'm trying to figure out how do I get married, I'm trying to figure out school, and then all of a sudden I have this surgery, I recover, and now I'm playing again. And so I'm back, I'm at Boston College, and that's where the comeback comes into effect. So now I'm a grown man, I've applied for my sixth year of eligibility. That year of always being ahead pays off because during those two years away from football, right, after my sophomore season at university, I take two years to get my master's, build a family, work on me. And so when I step back on the field, I'm giving them hell, right? And coach supporting it because I handle my business here as a man at university and as a player. And so he intended that grace for me to play again and go somewhere else to do so because he's got to run a business. And so at the end of the day, I had an opportunity somewhere else. And I took that opportunity, became the second player in history at Boston College to win the Brian Piccolo Comeback Player Award, uh, given to ACC's most courageous player um for that physical year. And uh was awarded several other awards and featured on the Jim Rome show, featured on ESPN for the story and in itself, right? Which is all great. And I praise God for it because again, I tell you no lie, it was no money attached, it was all God's glory. Like this was all God getting glory. It wasn't about me getting paid because at the time college athletes weren't getting paid or anything like that. So I'm I'll contract. I'm doing all of this from the heart, off the muscle, off of who was birthed October 14th, 1996, at 3820 Northwest 27th Street, which is a two, now extended to a three-bedroom home, right? That I grew up in, right? So that kid, that kid said, I'm going to get myself together and I'm gonna go finish what Lil Yerk started. That's his football career, right? And so I did that to prove to my son Elijah now we finish what we start. Whatever we said we started, we're gonna finish it. However that may be.
SPEAKER_03:First of all, I ain't know that. I know that. That's amazing. Oh, so so you you finished the vision. That see, see, see, y'all gonna have me out here. Now don't don't worry about my next what my next summer is gonna be about. All right, you might be some notes. You might hear some of your notes in there. But I I love that I love that you went and finished finished the vision so that God could start the next one. And and because it was in you to do. That's why you had to close out that part of the legacy so that God could give you your own.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03:Let's see, let's see, let's see. All right, talk to me about second act, bro. Talk to me about second act, right? What happened after that, after that final year playing?
SPEAKER_05:Life. Um, and when I say life, I mean life, you know, when you move back home to Fort Lauderdale, 3820 Northwest 27th Street, to that three-bedroom home that you came out of with your family, you're gonna have some problems and you're not married. I'm just calling it what it is, right? Yeah, and so, you know, as I'm training for the NFL, the pressure, all these things have come back into my life now because I've invited it, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Um, you know, you sign in with an agent, you know, your agent's telling you one thing, you're training, doing all these things, and then COVID hits. So COVID presented an unusual situation because I was no longer able to go and visit with pro teams. So the pro teams that I had met with prior to COVID that said they would possibly bring me in or whatever after the draft, right, for a workout or what have you, were not able to bring in rookies. They were only bringing in proven veterans at the time. So a lot of rookies in my class didn't get signed. And so my agents was like, You want to go to the CFL? I'm like, dude, how much do they make? He was like, you know, 50, 60 grand in six months. I was like, I can go get a job in sales and make that, and I can go back to the hood and do something else. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna go do that. Like, so I started really looking at life, like, you know, in order to continue to do this thing called football, I was gonna have to give up my family. I was gonna have to give up my faith and pursue something, not knowing what the outcome was gonna be. Or I can go ahead and deal with real life in the face, get me a job. Started coaching and teaching, taught sixth grade science back in my old high school where I was the man. And that was interesting. I coached high school football. We won a state championship. It was a humbling experience. I'm making$12,000 a year, soaking wet.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:I'm lucky working 40 to 80 hours a week, raising a family, living back in that three-bedroom with my parents, and trying to figure it out, you know. Um and so it's kind of like, you know, you go from this ride back down to reality, and that second act, you know, I've got my degree from university, I've got my second degree. I've started on a third degree at Boston College, which is another master's degree in healthcare administration, which I didn't finish. Um, because at the time I only spent a year at Boston. I didn't spend multiple years, I just went there for my last year of eligibility. Um and so for me, all this education, all these experiences, where's the money? I'm just gonna call it what it is. I'm like, God. You said you wouldn't leave your child begging for bread. Well, I'm over here in the unemployment line.
SPEAKER_03:I'm begging.
SPEAKER_05:I'm down here in Fort Lauderdale with these people that I grew up with, and I'm looking around like, what's going on? Like, I'm in the unemployment line. Like, for real.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I was just training for the NFL doing all this stuff, and now I'm in the unemployment line.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So I say all that to say, don't feel sorry for a man that has education, because you could be an educated fool. And so I knew that my foolish ways had to be cut out, you know, because at a certain point you got to put away childish things, right, as a man.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Right. And you gotta seek the full glory of God. And so I wasn't in that space at that time. I was still trying to find myself, right, as a man. And I made some very poor mistakes and choices with my words and with my actions. And that led to, you know, me having to rekindle and rebuild my family. Um you know, that as a man, you know, thinketh in his heart, so is he. And I saw myself as a little lion. I didn't see myself as as the big lion. I saw myself as Simba, right? And I was in the shadow of little rich around all the other richers now. Yeah, you see what I'm saying? So that big lion, yeah, I was back little yard. And what that does to a man is it puts him in a place of fight or flight, right? And so I knew my back was up against the wall. If I wanted to, you know, grow my family. I gotta grow my income. I gotta figure something out. I gotta figure, I gotta put together a plan because this is real life. This isn't football no more, where you know, you thinking you're gonna get this or they promising you that. Like, people want their money on time. Like, and it's pretty serious, right? And if you don't have enough money to pay a bill or the bills, you're gonna be stuck looking at Chuck, right? You're gonna be stuck like Chuck, right? And so I I know what it's like to be short, I know what it's like to man, just be hungry, right? And be looking for an opportunity, right? To serve or to do anything, right? And when you're in that space, sometimes you run across the wrong people that offer you some of the wrong opportunities, and you gotta know how to use your discernment, that kid from the porch or that kid off the porch, the kid from the porch or the kid off the porch. Well, I do I'm in the real world, like there's no excuses, it's over, right? Like the hardest thing is when your homies tell you, hey man, we're proud of the run you was on, you the guy, but you here with us now. What you finna do? And you gotta be like, man, I'm gonna go coach these kids, I'm gonna do something positive today, because if I don't, I'm gonna be on that. And I'm really not trying to be on that. You know what I'm saying? I'll say God had me in a place where I was I had to be humble and wait again. You know, after the ride, after everything was said and done, I was so thankful the day I got a call from university. Right after I had just gotten, I decided to get saved for real, for real, August of 2021. What? Yep, gave my life back to Christ and said, you know what? The missing piece of this puzzle and why things are not happening for me is because I haven't given it back over to him. And the moment I did that, I found myself back with my wife. I found myself in a nice starter home. I found myself with more than enough money to pay our bills. I found myself, you know, in just a space and then university calls. It offers me the opportunity to come back here and get my PhD and to teach in the athletic leadership program. And I would say from there, man, my life changed, you know, in an instant. You know, I was thinking one way, but again, God has something completely different set aside. And so um just super grateful um for the journey, you know, and just just for God keeping his hand on me, uh, even in that time of confusion, yeah. Um, and in that time where you know you just really don't know what you don't know. You're young, your brain as a man doesn't fully develop until you're 26. And so to have gone through all that trauma so early in my life, I'm thankful for it. You know, I appreciate the pressure.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Ooh, ooh, back to the pressure. Uh one, I love that you had an opportunity, you know, you had to close out a seat, you had to close out the vision, right? And you did that externally, where you you went and you played that that next football season, but then you also had to close, close it out internally, where you you were able to tell yourself, okay, you know what, this this is it. You know, the this this is I I'm not gonna try to keep trying to revamp this old vision. I'm gonna allow God to redefine who I am so that he can rewrite my story. So one of the things that's really important to both me and Rich is this idea of mentorship, right? This idea of taking things that we've learned through our journeys, ways that we've grown through our journeys, and investing it back. Rich, as you've kind of just talked through, you know, your years of of being on the porch, of of being introduced into new seasons and new places and having to seek to understand before being fully understood and going into these places where there were different levels. How has that informed how you give back to young people?
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's all about intentionality with young people. You can't start something and don't finish it. And so what I realized is that mentorship is till death doors apart. It's really not till graduation doors apart. And so just like I'm gonna be with my son, that's how I treat mentorship. Just how I'm gonna be with my daughter, that's how I treat mentorship. It's like a lifelong commitment. You know what I'm saying? And you don't play with that responsibility of someone entrusting you for wisdom because that's where counseling and all those things come from, wise men. Like there was a bunch of wise men that poured into me. So why would I not give that same level of pouring um back to the next generation, you know? And so I think uh when you're dealing with mentorship, it is not a feel-good thing, it's not always easy to mentor, it's not convenient to mentor. It's again, it's an intentional of kindness, right? There's no glory, no need from it. It's what'd you think from the heart? I mean, yeah, you know, I mean it it's just what it is, right? So I think we always have to be in that posture of by giving or receiving lending, right? I think we've been on so much tunes. Why can't we lend a little bit?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_03:So listen, listen, Rich, listen, one, your story is absolutely amazing. It's it even the parts I didn't know, right? I thought I thought I had seen it all. You know, I've heard this man speak on multiple platforms. I've I've watched him tell the story. It's such an inspiring story. It's such a a story that people love to grab onto because it gives hope to it's a it's an intergenerational inspirational story. You know, it speaks to it speaks to so many people at different levels of their life. And I'm grateful that you would consider coming on the Unlearned Podcast to the second act to tell it because truly God has done so many amazing things for you. Rich, if the people want to connect with you and to learn more about what you do, listen, my brother's still a hustler. Okay, he always got an idea, always got a new venture, always got a new little thing he's doing. How can the people keep up with what you're doing? It's simple.
SPEAKER_05:Um, you know, you can find me on my website, uh, richmurigan.com, uh, or you can shoot me a direct email to my foundation. Um, you know, we're we're tr we're transitioning this year. It's just a straightforward back into a little mixture of dealing with the nonprofit ministry. You know, you'll see me if you catch me at church, you know, throughout the week. You know, obviously as we know, my place of uh employment and where where I'm at and what I'm doing. But you know, um I appreciate those that do visit my websites. It's gonna be under construction over the next month or so. But um you know, feel free to reach out with any requests on the channel or um social media. What's the social media? Professor Yuri, Instagram, Twitter, you know, I do a little Facebook as well, some personal.
SPEAKER_01:Perfect.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I try to be connected, you know, with with people.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you so, so much. Thank you all for having me. Appreciate you, bro. Yeah, no, this was amazing. All right, friends. If you have not yet signed up with us, please like, share, subscribe. We want you to be a part of the family. We want you to continue to learn more as we continue to unlearn. We want you to join us on this journey of unlearning. And as we are thinking through what God is doing for us in our second act, I want you to always remember you don't have to stay stuck in intermission. You can raise the curtain to your second act. We'll see you guys in the next week.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearnt Podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together and move forward towards freedom.
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